In 1990, Tutsi exiles in Uganda formed the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), a political and military organization. After three years of war, they came within 30 km of invading Kigali, the Rwandan capital. The Rwandan president was forced to sign a power-sharing peace agreement with the RPF. However, Hutu elites within the government had been training civilians, militias, and army units to massacre the Tutsis. On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana was assassinated and the genocide began.

For three months, the citizens of Rwanda were slaughtered on such a massive scale that five times more people were killed per day than in any other twentieth century genocide. Approximately 830,000 people were killed, of which 800,000 were members of the Tutsi ethnic minority, and the remainder members of the Hutu majority. Eleven percent of Rwanda’s population died. Two million of Rwanda’s seven million people fled the country as refugees.

In 1996, most of the Rwandan people returned to their homes and livelihoods. The ethnic conflict that had exploded into genocide two years before still existed, however, and new conflicts had arisen out of the genocide.

This negotiation is set in a small village in Gisenyi Province of northern Rwanda, just after the return of a massive wave of refugees. The format is a village meeting with six participants: Bernadette (a 44-year old Tutsi woman whose husband and son were killed by the Hutus); Frederic (a 22-year old Tutsi refugee whose parents fled to Uganda from Gisenyi 30 years ago); Ancille (a 45-year old Hutu woman whose daughter had married Bernadette’s son); Joseph (a 25-year old Hutu man, recently appointed prefect); Charles (a 60-year old Hutu man and the locally elected bougmestre who challenges Joseph’s authority); and Perpetune (a 29-year old Hutu woman whose land abust the land claimed by Bernadette, Ancille, and Frederic). The villagers will seek consensus regarding competing land claims and local authority issues.

How intergroup conflicts begin when individuals identify strongly with a particular group as a way to meet their physical and psychological needs, and come to believe that this “identity group” is being threatened by members of other groups;

How intergroup conflicts escalate when group members and leaders decide to use threats or acts of violence to meet the needs of their own group; and

How members of groups in conflict can take steps toward a workable peace by negotiating truces, recognizing each others’ right to meet basic needs, and making rules for settling their conflicts and meeting their needs without violence.

If you would like additional information about the Workable Peace framework and teaching materials, including information about teacher training and support, please contact Workable Peace Co-Directors David Fairman or Stacie Smith at:

You may order this role simulation in either soft copy (electronic) or hard copy (paper) format. If you select the soft copy option, you will receive an e-mail with a URL (website address) from which you may download an electronic file in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You are then permitted to view the document on your computer and either print the number of copies you purchased, or forward the electronic file as many times as the number of copies you purchased. You will only receive a link to one electronic file per document. So, if you order 25 soft copies, you may either forward copies of the link to 25 people via e-mail, or print (and/or photocopy) 25 hard copies of the document.

If you select the hard copy option, you will receive paper copies of this role simulation via the shipping method you select.

The purchase price and handling fee are the same for both soft and hard copies. Soft copies do not entail a shipping fee.

For additional information about the soft copy option, please visit our FAQ section, or contact the PON Teaching Negotiation Resource Center at tnrc@law.harvard.edu or 800-258-4406 (within the U.S.) or 781-966-2751 (outside the U.S.).

Please note: At the present time, Teaching Negotiation Resource Center soft copies are compatible with the following versions of the Adobe Acrobat Reader: English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean. If you have a different version of the Acrobat Reader, you may wish to download one of these at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html, or contact the PON Teaching Negotiation Resource Center at tnrc@law.harvard.edu, 800-258-4406 (within the U.S.), or 781-966-2751 (outside the U.S.) for further assistance. This restriction does not apply to the freely available Teacher’s Package Review Copies.

Ordering a single copy for review

If you wish to review the materials for a particular role simulation to decide whether you’d like to use it, then you should order a single Teacher’s Package for that role simulation. A PDF, or soft copy, version of the Teacher’s Package is also available as a free download from the description page of most role simulations and case studies. There is no need to order participant materials as well as a Teacher’s Package, as all Teacher’s Packages include copies of all participant materials. In addition, some Teacher’s Packages (but not all) include additional teaching materials such as teaching notes or overhead masters. Please note that the materials in Teacher’s Packages are for the instructor’s review and reference only, and may not be duplicated for use with participants.

Ordering copies for multiple participants

If you wish to order multiple copies of a role simulation for use in a course or workshop, simply enter the total number of participants in the box next to “Participant Copies.” There is no need to calculate how many of each role is required; the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center will calculate the appropriate numbers of each role to provide, based on the total number of participants. For example, if you wish to order a 2-party role simulation for use with a class of 30 students, you would enter “30” in the box next to “Participant Copies.” You then would receive 15 copies of one role and 15 copies of the other role, for use with your 30 participants. As another example, if you ordered 30 participant copies of a 6-party role simulation, you would receive 5 copies of each role.

In the event that the number of participant copies you order is not evenly divisible by the number of roles in the simulation, you will receive extra copies of one or more roles. Participants receiving the extra roles may partner with other participants playing the same role, thus negotiating as a team. So, for instance, if you ordered 31 copies of a 2-party role simulation, you would receive 15 copies of the first role and 16 copies of the second role. One of the participants playing the second role would partner with another participant playing that same role, and the two would negotiate as a team.

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Prof. Susskind’s Top 5 Environmental Negotiation Teaching Materials

From time to time, the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center asks PON-affiliated faculty to nominate their top five books, top five teaching videos or top five role-play simulations in certain fields or teaching settings. These change periodically.